Villas-Boas not thinking about revenge

18 October 2012 04:47

Tottenham boss Andre Villas-Boas is refusing to treat Saturday's Barclays Premier League clash against his former side Chelsea as a personal revenge mission.

The 35-year-old was sacked as Chelsea manager in March after less than nine months in charge and faces the Blues for the first time since replacing Harry Redknapp at White Hart Lane.

But despite leaving Stamford Bridge under a cloud, Villas-Boas will not be treating the match any differently to any other league fixture, and said: "In the end there is one thing which has been to a certain extent blown out of proportion in some ways - this is certainly not a personal matter."

He added: "This game is not going to decide the future of both teams in the Premier League - after this game there will be 30 more games to play and both teams will have decisive matches in front of them. It counts as three points. It doesn't win us a trophy."

The former Porto manager did, however, suggest that his players may have revenge on their minds when they run out to play the European champions.

Chelsea's first ever European Cup success meant Spurs missed out on this season's Champions League despite finishing fourth in the league.

Spurs were also beaten 5-1 by their London rivals in the semi-final of last year's FA Cup and Villas-Boas feels his squad could be looking to get their own back on Saturday.

He said: "It is the team who took this club out of the Champions League, this is the team who prevented this team from playing in FA Cup final last year.

"So in the end we certainly have ingredients for it to be a spectacular match, hopefully.

"We never know how the game can develop. But certainly, a good game might hopefully give us a chance to go nearer the top, which is what we want."